BAYONNE -- City officials and developers met to break ground at the new 19 East development on 19 East 19th Street on Monday, February 13. The new apartment building is one of many of its kind going up this year in Bayonne, mainly in neighborhoods that are urbanizing with demand for public transit access and walkability.

Brad Ingerman, owner of Ingerman Construction, and the developer behind Broadway’s newest building, hopes for the project to be finished by spring of 2018. He called the development “one of our most exciting projects,” in the 27 years the company has been in business.

“It is exciting to us because we think we’re at the beginning of something, not at the end,” said Ingerman. “The resurgence of Bayonne will hopefully follow where Jersey City has come over the last several years, and Hoboken. Bayonne will be right on par with those great cities.”

Mayor James Davis thanked Ingerman for its “investment into our city.”

“I’m really excited about this,” said Davis. “This would be one of the first projects be done for Broadway where the people now will be able to shop, dine, go to cafes, and hopefully start bringing Broadway back the way we expect it to.”

The building that once stood at the location was under control of the Bayonne Housing Authority, but contaminated and vacant for years. The mayor sees benefits to the area other than providing much-needed housing.

“This actually becomes a full project here where we’re cleaning up the area, we’re helping Broadway, and we also help out our housing authority,” Davis said.

Crews were on 19th Street in early January demolishing the vacant Housing Authority building to make way for the new development. The building is an unusual shape. It will be perpendicular, with one part starting on 19 East 19th Street and extending into the center of the block and then back out to Broadway.

Units will be marketed as “luxury apartments” and should appeal to young professionals commuting to Manhattan with its proximity to the 22nd Street Light Rail Station. The new building will be within walking distance of the 22nd Street Light Rail and Broadway commerce. According to Ingerman, plans include 212 parking spaces on the bottom two floors, and 138 luxury units – 24 studio apartments, 74 one-bedroom apartments, and 40 two-bedroom apartments. Rents will range from $1,800 per month to $2,400 per month.